Effect of Functionality of Epoxy Curing Agent on the Curing Process of Poly (butadiene-co-acrylic acid-co-acrylonitrile)

In this study, a Poly (butadiene-acrylic acid-acrylonitrile), PBAN, was characterized by FT-IR, DSC, TGA and GPC spectroscopies. Acid-titration was performed to determine the content of the acrylic acid. Then PBAN pre-polymer was cured at 80°C by tri and di epoxy curing agents (LY 5052 & DER 331) in the presence of a curing catalyst (MgO) and FT-IR monitoring was performed at two steps of curing time (0 and 12 days). During the curing reaction, the acrylic acid groups of PBAN were reacted with epoxy groups of curative which ester groups were yielded. The results showed that by increasing the functionality of epoxy curing agent from 2 to 3, the curing reaction was progressed about 1.5 faster at the constant curing conditions (time, temperature and catalyst content)